Climate resilience imperatives

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Given the doom and gloom surrounding climate change, and the lackluster response to this challenge by powerful countries and international aid agencies, news of on-ground efforts to contend with emergent climate threats are much needed.

Highlighting carefully chosen examples of how to deal with varied climate challenges can offer replication value and inspire a sense of hope in humanity's ability to contend with what is fast becoming an existential threat. In recognition of this need to promote encouraging climate adaptation stories, the World Bank recently released its 'Rising to the challenge' report which tries to showcase several examples of climate adaptation and resilience. This report documents, for instance, how a heat-health action plan implemented by the local government in Ahmedabad in India has saved thousands of lives in its first two years of implementation. Many of the other stories featured in this report, however, focus on the potential of the private sector to enable climate adaptation, which is not unexpected given how entities like the WB consider the private sector to be best positioned to address a wide array of development challenges.

Examples of private sector-led innovations lauded by WB in the mentioned report included the story of a commodity broker helping implement a largescale agroforestry programme in Côte d'Ivoire aimed at restoring ecosystems, sequestering carbon, improving soil fertility and bolstering local farmers' livelihoods. No independent assessment was cited to show the efficacy of this effort in securing such ambitious goals. Such evidence is merited, because upon closer inspection, many overly ambitious efforts claiming to deliver multiple benefits often remain focused on meeting their economic bottom-line, even if that means compromising on making discernable positive impacts on the lives of local communities.

The WB also seems very enthusiastic about the potential of financial institutions developing new strategic partnerships and innovative funding structures to channel more capital into building the capacity of vulnerable populations and regions to withstand disasters. Nonetheless, the WB's enthusiasm for private finance spearheading climate mitigation innovations obscures the fact that poor indebted countries are being asked to take additional loans to address climate threats that they have done little to cause.

Addressing climate vulnerabilities of the poorest requires not only relying on tech-savvy private sector-led efforts but it also necessitates addressing the lack of access to basic infrastructure and social services which are vital for helping poorer people cope with, and recover from, climate shocks. Yet, the WB, alongside the IMF, keeps insisting that governments should cut public spending and rely instead on the private sector to help meet these lingering needs. Instead, the WB should ramp up payments to finance public expenditure gaps, especially to bolster social safety nets which enhance adaptive capacity and socioeconomic resilience of poorer people.

The WB needs to pay more attention to the environmental damage caused by its own growth-obsessed policies which have compelled governments of poor countries to pry open their economies to private investments in fossil fuel production, chemically based intensive farming and other ecologically damaging ventures.

Of course, the governments of climate stressed poorer countries cannot absolve themselves of blame either. Many power-hungry governments, including in Pakistan, remain content to run the country via top-down mechanisms instead of devolving responsibility and finances to local governments. As a result, adaptation actions remain fragmented, ineffective and irresponsive in terms of preventing damage, providing relief and building resilience.

The governments of indebted countries and the WB must agree to go beyond promoting elite serving economic policies and place emphasis on directly supporting resilient food, water and sanitation systems, which are capable of withstanding climate changes.